Pepsi was first introduced as "Brad's Drink"[1] in New Bern, North Carolina, United States, in 1893 by

Caleb Bradham, who made it at his drugstore where the drink was sold. It was renamed Pepsi-Cola
in 1898 after the Greek word for "digestion" (πέψη, pronounced the same as Pepsi), which the drink
was purported to aid, and "cola" after the kola nut. The original recipe also included sugar and
vanilla.[1] Bradham sought to create a fountain drink that was appealing and would aid in digestion
and boost energy.[1]

The original stylized Pepsi-Cola wordmark used from 1898 until 1905.

In 1903, Bradham moved the bottling of Pepsi-Cola from his drugstore to a rented warehouse. That
year, Bradham sold 7,968 gallons of syrup. The next year, Pepsi was sold in six-ounce bottles, and
sales increased to 19,848 gallons. In 1909, automobile race pioneer Barney Oldfield was the first
celebrity to endorse Pepsi-Cola, describing it as "A bully drink...refreshing, invigorating, a fine bracer
before a race." The advertising theme "Delicious and Healthful" was then used over the next two
decades.[2]

A 1919 newspaper ad for Pepsi-Cola

In 1923, the Pepsi-Cola Company entered bankruptcy—in large part due to financial losses incurred
by speculating on the wildly fluctuating sugar prices as a result of World War I. Assets were sold and
Roy C. Megargel bought the Pepsi trademark.[1] Megargel was unsuccessful in efforts to find funding
to revive the brand and soon Pepsi's assets were purchased by Charles Guth, the president of Loft,
Inc. Loft was a candy manufacturer with retail stores that contained soda fountains. He sought to
replace Coca-Cola at his stores' fountains after the Coca-Cola Company refused to give him
additional discounts on syrup. Guth then had Loft's chemists reformulate the Pepsi-Cola syrup
formula.[3]
On three separate occasions between 1922 and 1933, the Coca-Cola Company was offered the
opportunity to purchase the Pepsi-Cola company, and it declined on each occasion. [4]

Growth in popularity
During the Great Depression, Pepsi-Cola gained popularity following the introduction in 1934 of a
12-ounce bottle. Prior to that, Pepsi and Coca-Cola sold their drinks in 6.5-ounce servings for about
$0.05 a bottle. With a radio advertising campaign featuring the popular jingle "Nickel, Nickel" – first
recorded by the Tune Twisters in 1940 – Pepsi encouraged price-conscious consumers to double
the volume their nickels could purchase.[5][6] The jingle is arranged in a way that loops, creating a
never-ending tune:
"Pepsi-Cola hits the spot / Twelve full ounces, that's a lot / Twice as much for a nickel, too / Pepsi-
Cola is the drink for you."[7]

Coming at a time of economic crisis, the campaign succeeded in boosting Pepsi's status. From 1936
to 1938, Pepsi-Cola's profits doubled. [8]

The stylized Pepsi-Cola wordmark used from 1940 to 1950. It was reintroduced in 2014.

Pepsi's success under Guth came while the Loft Candy business was faltering. Since he had initially
used Loft's finances and facilities to establish the new Pepsi success, the near-bankrupt Loft
Company sued Guth for possession of the Pepsi-Cola company. A long legal battle, Guth v. Loft,
then ensued, with the case reaching the Delaware Supreme Court and ultimately ending in a loss for
Guth.

Marketing

The Pepsi logo used from 1973 to 1987. From 1987 to 1991, the logo was the same, but with the wordmark
in Handel Gothic.[9] This logo was used for Pepsi Throwback until 2014.

The Pepsi globe and wordmark used from 1992 to 2003. The wordmark has been separated from the globe,
italicized and made much larger (written vertically on cans) but is still in Handel Gothic.
The three-dimensional Pepsi globe and wordmark used from 2003 to late 2008, based on the 1992 version.

The Pepsi logo used from 2008 to 2014. The Pepsi globe is now two-dimensional again, and the red, white,
and blue design has been changed to look like a smile.

From the 1930s through the late 1950s, "Pepsi-Cola Hits The Spot" was the most commonly used
slogan in the days of old radio, classic motion pictures, and later television. Its jingle (conceived in
the days when Pepsi cost only five cents) was used in many different forms with different lyrics. With
the rise of radio, Pepsi utilized the services of a young, up-and-coming actress named Polly
Bergen to promote products, oftentimes lending her singing talents to the classic "...Hits The Spot"
jingle.
Film actress Joan Crawford, after marrying Pepsi-Cola president Alfred N. Steele became a
spokesperson for Pepsi, appearing in commercials, television specials, and televised beauty
pageants on behalf of the company. Crawford also had images of the soft drink placed prominently
in several of her later films. When Steele died in 1959, Crawford was appointed to the Board of
Directors of Pepsi-Cola, a position she held until 1973, although she was not a board member of the
larger PepsiCo, created in 1965. [10]
Pepsi has been featured in several films, including Back to the Future (1985), Home
Alone (1990), Wayne's World (1992), Fight Club (1999), and World War Z (2013).[11][12]
In 1996, PepsiCo launched the highly successful Pepsi Stuff marketing strategy. "Project Blue" was
launched in several international markets outside the United States in April. The launch included
extravagant publicity stunts, such as a Concorde aeroplane painted in blue colors (which was owned
by Air France) and a banner on the Mir space station.
The Project Blue design arrived in the United States test marketed in June 1997, and finally released
in 1998 worldwide to celebrate Pepsi's 100th anniversary. It was at this point the logo began to be
referred to as the Pepsi Globe.
In October 2008, Pepsi announced that it would be redesigning its logo and re-branding many of its
products by early 2009. In 2009, Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, and Pepsi Max began using all lower-case fonts
for name brands. The brand's blue and red globe trademark became a series of "smiles", with the
central white band arcing at different angles depending on the product until 2010. Pepsi released
this logo in U.S. in late 2008, and later it was released in 2009 in Canada (the first country outside of
the United States for Pepsi's new logo), Brazil, Bolivia, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, El
Salvador, Colombia, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Panama, Chile, Dominican Republic, the
Philippines, and Australia. In the rest of the world, the new logo was released in 2010. The old logo
is still used in several international markets, and has been phased out most recently
in France and Mexico.
Niche marketing
Walter Mack was named the new president of Pepsi-Cola and guided the company through the
1940s. Mack, who supported progressive causes, noticed that the company's strategy of using
advertising for a general audience either ignored African Americans or used ethnic stereotypes in
portraying blacks. Up until the 1940s, the full revenue potential of what was called "the Negro
market" was largely ignored by white-owned manufacturers in the U.S.[13] Mack realized that blacks
were an untapped niche market and that Pepsi stood to gain market share by targeting its
advertising directly towards them. [14] To this end, he hired Hennan Smith, an advertising executive
"from the Negro newspaper field"[15] to lead an all-black sales team, which had to be cut due to the
onset of World War II.

A 1940s advertisement specifically targeting African Americans, an untapped niche market that was largely
ignored by white-owned manufacturers in the U.S. A young Ron Brown is the boy reaching for a bottle.

In 1947, Walter Mack resumed his efforts, hiring Edward F. Boyd to lead a twelve-man team. They
came up with advertising portraying black Americans in a positive light, such as one with a smiling
mother holding a six pack of Pepsi while her son (a young Ron Brown, who grew up to be Secretary
of Commerce)[16] reaches up for one. Another ad campaign, titled "Leaders in Their Fields", profiled
twenty prominent African Americans such as Nobel Peace Prize winner Ralph Bunche and
photographer Gordon Parks.
Boyd also led a sales team composed entirely of blacks around the country to promote Pepsi. Racial
segregation and Jim Crow laws were still in place throughout much of the U.S.; Boyd's team faced a
great deal of discrimination as a result,[15] from insults by Pepsi co-workers to threats by the Ku Klux
Klan.[16] On the other hand, it was able to use its anti-racism stance as a selling point, attacking
Coke's reluctance to hire blacks and support by the chairman of the Coca-Cola Company for
segregationist governor of Georgia Herman Talmadge.[14] As a result, Pepsi's market share as
compared to Coca-Cola's shot up dramatically in the 1950s with African American soft-drink
consumers three times more likely to purchase Pepsi over Coke. [17] After the sales team visited
Chicago, Pepsi's share in the city overtook that of Coke for the first time. [14]
Journalist Stephanie Capparell interviewed six men who were on the team in the late 1940s. The
team members had a grueling schedule, working seven days a week, morning and night, for weeks
on end. They visited bottlers, churches, ladies groups, schools, college campuses, YMCAs,
community centers, insurance conventions, teacher and doctor conferences, and various civic
organizations. They got famous jazzmen such as Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton to promote
Pepsi from the stage. No group was too small or too large to target for a promotion. [18]
Pepsi advertisements avoided the stereotypical images common in the major media that
depicted Aunt Jemimas and Uncle Bens, whose role was to draw a smile from white customers.
Instead, it portrayed black customers as self-confident middle-class citizens who showed very good
taste in their soft drinks. They were economical too, as Pepsi bottles were twice the size. [19]
This focus on the market for black people caused some consternation within the company and
among its affiliates. It did not want to seem focused on black customers for fear white customers
would be pushed away.[14] In a national meeting, Mack tried to assuage the 500 bottlers in
attendance by pandering to them, saying "We don't want it to become known as a nigger
drink."[20] After Mack left the company in 1950, support for the black sales team faded and it was cut.
[13]

Boyd was replaced in 1952 by Harvey C. Russell, who was notable for his marketing campaigns
towards black youth in New Orleans. These campaigns, held at locales attended largely by black
children, would encourage children to collect Pepsi bottle caps, which they could then exchange for
rewards. One example is Pepsi's 1954 "Pepsi Day at the Beach" event, where New Orleans children
could ride rides at an amusement park in exchange for Pepsi bottle caps. By the end of the event,
125,000 bottle caps been collected. According to The Pepsi Cola World, the New Orleans campaign
was a success; once people's supply of bottle caps ran out, the only way they could get more was to
buy more Pepsi.[21]